Rawlings, Victor Smith, Bodyguards Fingered

It's been five clear days and exactly some hours, since Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, managing editor of the Insight newspaper took a shot of the much-publicized ?hotel de Kufuor' building, situated close to the President's residence at Airport West in Accra.

However, reliable information reaching Daily Guide indicate that former President Jerry Rawlings was behind the much-hyped "One Shot Only" mission of Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr with four of his bodyguards forming part of the entourage of the Insight newspaper editor, during the brief but noisy trip to ostensibly take a shot of the hotel building, adjacent to President Kufuor residence last week. The exercise, which was quickly put together at the heels of the unfortunate TV Africa debacle, was with the active participation of the former president's special aide, Mr. Victor Smith, and drew National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists from Nima, Accra to provide the required ?noise', and to simulate commotion. Investigations conducted by Daily Guide, corroborated by eye-witnesses at Tetteh Quarshie interchange area revealed that Kwesi Pratt's trip to take his much-trumpeted "just-one shot", was allegedly coordinated and closely monitored by Rawlings' apparatchiks.

Like the phantasmagorical Chinese Railway Corporation theatre play on GTV, with the monkey king as lead character, entitled ?Journey to the West", Mr. Kwesi Pratt's journey to the hotel Kufuor on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 is quite revealing, Daily Guide has found.

Four (4) of former president Rawlings' bodyguard left the North Ridge residence, right behind special aide, and official spokesman Victor Smith. Soon after, they were seen among the entourage heading toward the hotel project. Pratt received a phone call on his mobile, before snapping his one shot of the hotel building, amidst foliage of trees, from where he was standing on the overhead railway bridge.

Victor Smith parks his vehicle at the upper carriage of the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange (i.e. the Achimota to Tema road) and keenly monitors Kwesi Pratt, from the opposite direction.

Pratt stood at the right side of Shangri-La hotel building, because his position, vis-?-vis the building, was blocked by the big trees. It was from Victor Smith's position, at the Upper Carriage of the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange, that a better picture of the hotel building can be taken. Around 1205 hours, when Mr. Pratt was returning toward the Airport, Victor also, left through Dzorwulu traffic lights and appears at the airport filling station. He enters the Cockpit Grill restaurant at Commodore Mensah's filling station. In a few minutes, Pratt and his entourage were seen heading toward the same Shell filling station. Just as he was about to cross the road to the other side, he suddenly moves toward a waiting taxi-cab, which he boarded and zoomed away. One of former president Rawlings's bodyguards, joined him in the taxi, and they drove off around 12:45 hours. A caller who drew daily guides attention to the sort of people who accompanied, or chaperoned Pratt to the overhead railway bridge at Shangri-La that day, also, pleaded with the paper to allow them to use the paper's medium to challenge Kwesi Pratt, to publish his ?just-one shot' photograph, of the hotel building, for the world to know what he was able to take pictures of the hotel building. According to the caller, she believes that from where Kwesi Pratt stood to take his ?just-one shot photograph, he could not have gotten a clear view of the hotel building. According to the caller who identified herself as Maa Lizzie, alias Maame Adjoa, a trader in Accra, she has now gotten to know that all the hullabaloo of marching to ?hotel Kufuor', was with the backing of the NDC capos, and the founder himself, Jerry Rawlings.